Chelsea has been home to numerous elite-level talents over the years, helping the club cement their place as one of the big six sides in the Premier League.
Since 2000, the club have won five top-flight titles along with two Champions League triumphs, mainly thanks to the investment of former owner Roman Abramovich.
However, since he sold the club in 2022 to Todd Boehly, the Blues have failed to win a single trophy, with an emphasis on the American needing to return the club to its glory days.
Striker Didier Drogba played a huge part in the club’s previous success, making 344 appearances and scoring 147 times – including in the Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich back in 2012.
The Ivorian starred alongside one talent who captured the hearts of many during his own time at Stamford Bridge.
Frank Lampard’s time at Chelsea
Midfielder Frank Lampard will forever be an integral part of the Chelsea side that created new history for the club during the early 2000s, often taking the armband in the absence of John Terry.
He joined the Blues in an £11m deal way back in 2001 from fellow Premier League side West Ham United, making an immediate impact on the first-team squad despite his tender age of just 22 when he made the move across London.
Lampard produced numerous heroic displays during his time at Stamford Bridge, including in the Champions League semi-final back in 2008, scoring a vital penalty just days after the tragic passing of his mother.
The midfielder eventually departed the Bridge back in 2014 after 13 successful years at the club, amassing a total of 481 appearances – whilst making himself the club’s record goalscorer in the process.
He embodied everything about being a Chelsea player with his work rate, and desire to help the club succeed, whilst also having the quality to turn the game on its head in an instant – subsequently helping the club achieve their respective titles during his time at the club.
Frank Lampard
211
Bobby Tambling
177
Didier Drogba
164
Peter Osgood
139
Jimmy Greaves
131
The club have struggled to find a replacement for the Englishman, unsurprisingly, given his impact at the club, but at one point they thought one player could fill the boots of the fan favourite.
The man who was once the next Lampard
After joining the club back in 2013, midfielder Marco van Ginkel arrived from Dutch side Vitesse with high hopes of being the next big talent at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea.
He only made four appearances during his debut campaign in England, before various different loan spells away from the club at the likes of AC Milan and Stoke City.
However, Van Ginkel, who was previously hailed as ‘the next Lampard’ when arriving, subsequently spent three separate loan spells at PSV Eindhoven, before permanently joining the Dutch side during the summer of 2021.
“He had something special about him that not a lot of players have. You don’t get many box-to-box players nowadays, particularly not who can score a lot of goals. He was especially good at scoring headers, arriving late into the box. He is the same type of player as Lampard was.” – Jetro Willems on Van Ginkel in 2016.
He made 76 appearances for Eindhoven across his three temporary stints at the club before his permanent transfer, but he would only last two seasons before yet another move.
Van Ginkel moved to Vitesse, the club he started his career at, scoring nine goals in 45 appearances last season, before leaving at the end of the season, with the midfielder now a free agent at the age of just 31.
It’s a real shame to see a player with such high expectations fail to deliver during his career, with the Dutchman another player in a long line that has never matched the promise demonstrated in his early days.
His time at Chelsea was a huge disappointment, only making four appearances over an eight-year spell, with the midfielder in desperate need of a move to reignite his once promising career.
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